David Holmes, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, is the Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Budapest, Hungary.

For much of the past decade, David served in senior leadership positions overseas and in Washington advancing policies concerning European security, Russia, and Ukraine.  As a member of the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the Secretary, David led the Department of State’s contingency planning for Russia’s war in Ukraine.  Overseas, he served as Political Counselor at Embassy Kyiv, and prior to that as Deputy Political Counselor and Senior Energy Officer at Embassy Moscow.  

Earlier in his career, David served in Washington as Director for Afghanistan on the National Security Council staff and as Special Assistant to then-Under Secretary of State Bill Burns.  At Embassy New Delhi, he was part of the team that concluded the landmark U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.  His prior overseas assignments included Kabul, Afghanistan; Bogotá, Colombia; and Pristina, Kosovo.

Originally from California, David joined the Foreign Service in 2002.  A graduate of Pomona College, he holds Master’s degrees from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.  A former Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, he is the recipient of the American Foreign Service Association’s 2014 Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent.